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Candidates, in New Hampshire, Hit the Ground Running

Supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders attended a predawn rally in Bow, N.H., on Tuesday.Credit
Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Presidential candidates flew through the night to hit the New Hampshire campaign trail running on Tuesday morning, eager to capitalize on a race that has been reordered by surprising finishes in the Iowa caucuses.

The first nominating contest knocked the poll-powered momentum from Donald J. Trump’s campaign, produced an ascendant Senator Marco Rubio and left the Democrats without a clear winner until Tuesday afternoon, when the race was called for Hillary Clinton. While the field of competitors ultimately narrowed in Iowa, New Hampshire will prove to be a more open and messy affair, as several “establishment” Republicans have been camping out there in hopes that a strong showing could jump-start their prospects.

Sleep-deprived but trying to stay upbeat, most candidates filled their Tuesday schedules with multiple stops. Among the Democrats, Mrs. Clinton was reaching out to voters in Nashua and Hampton as Senator Bernie Sanders was making his case at rallies in Keene and Claremont. In Iowa, a winner had yet to be declared in the Democratic caucuses; Mrs. Clinton held a razor-sharp edge and confusion reigned about the final tally.

On the Republican side, Mr. Rubio and Mr. Trump were to hold evening rallies in Exeter and Milford, while Senator Ted Cruz, the winner of the caucuses, planned to travel both to New Hampshire and to the potentially friendlier turf of South Carolina.

“I give the party the best chance not just to unify the conservative movement but to grow it,” Mr. Rubio, who surprised pollsters with his strong third-place finish in Iowa, said on ABC News’s “Good Morning America” program. “We’re ready to go in New Hampshire and we’re excited about the momentum we’re carrying into this great state.”

After his victory speech, Mr. Cruz joked about the attention being lavished on Mr. Rubio, who he noted was the “third-place finisher,” and said that unlike recent Iowa winners, he has the resources to compete nationally. The Cruz campaign, whose staffers sipped champagne as they traveled overnight across the country, argues that it is built for the long haul.

“We are answering the questions of the men and women of New Hampshire and earning the votes one person at a time,” Mr. Cruz told MSNBC.

Photo

Dave Hart, of Farmington, N.H., at an event for Gov. John T. Kasich in Rochester, N.H., on Monday.Credit
Ian Thomas Jansen-Lonnquist for The New York Times

Notably silent on Tuesday morning was Mr. Trump. The billionaire businessman has been a wall-to-wall presence on television and social media since beginning his campaign last summer, but after his disappointing second-place finish he did not appear on air. His normally buzzy Twitter feed was untouched for nearly 15 hours.

By noon, when he returned to social media, Mr. Trump was calling his second-place finish “a great honor” and criticizing the news media for not giving him credit for receiving the second-highest vote count in Republican caucus history. At the same time, he also found fault with voters, who he said did not give him enough credit for funding own campaign. “I will keep doing, but not worth it!” he wrote.

The respite from Mr. Trump’s bombast may have provided a rare opening for candidates such as Gov. John R. Kasich of Ohio and Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who have been banking on breakout performances in New Hampshire. A week before the state holds its primary election, they struck positive notes.

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“I’m operating on the sunny side of the street,” Mr. Kasich told CNN on Tuesday. “It’s going to take me telling people who I am. And at the end of the day, people want somebody who can land the airplane.”

Early Tuesday morning, Mr. Christie was on the stump in Nashua, delivering the keynote speech at the Salvation Army’s annual Groundhog Breakfast. (No, Punxsutawney Phil did not come north to make an appearance, and if any local equivalent saw his shadow, he kept mum about it.) Mr. Christie appeared undeterred by lackluster finish in Iowa as he tried his hand at punditry.

“I am pleased to announce that I performed exactly as I expected in Iowa,” Mr. Christie told a questioner who asked his view on last night’s results, adding that Iowa was in the “rearview mirror.”

“For me, that’s a joyous announcement,” he said.

Despite their professed optimism, the latest polls show Mr. Trump with a substantial lead in New Hampshire. It remains to be seen, however, what impact his loss in Iowa will have on voters in other parts of the country.

Early in the day, as Democrats awaited an announcement on their winner in Iowa and the race appeared locked in a virtual tie, Mrs. Clinton’s team declared victory, but it could be facing a fight. The Sanders campaign has raised questions about problems at caucus precincts and planned to ask for the raw vote counts. With 100 percent of precincts reporting on Tuesday morning, the Iowa Democratic Party showed Mrs. Clinton with 49.8 percent and Mr. Sanders with 49.6 percent.

Regardless of how the final numbers shake out, Mr. Sanders was casting the caucuses as a win for his campaign.

“I think the significance is that for folks who did not think Bernie Sanders could win, that we couldn’t compete against Hillary Clinton,” Mr. Sanders said as he arrived in New Hampshire on Tuesday. “I hope that that thought is now gone.”